25th August 1819, River Leven, Loch Lomond, Steam Packet, Ben Lomond, Luss, Rob Roy’s Cave, Tarbet, Arrochar, Loch Long, Cobbler, Glen Croe Pass, Rest & Be Thankful, Loch Rest, Cairndow

Wednesday 25th August 1819

Wednesday Augt 25th Immediately after breakfast we rode 5 miles to the river Leven where we were conveyed in a boat to the steam packet in Loch Lomond this lake is 18 miles in length is on a grander and finer scale than in Cumberland; on the right Ben Lomond rears its lofty head and forms a striking contrast to the small though beautiful village of Luss; there was fortunately a most agreeable party in the steamboat; we all landed at Rob Roy’s Cave which is nearly at the end of the lake the path unworthy of that name is almost impassable I with the greatest difficulty descended to the bottom of the cave which is very small cut out of the rocks at the entrance sits a very old room said to be a collection of Rob Roy’s.

we then landed at Tarbet and advanced in our own carriages to Arrochar to dinner the Inn is situated close to Loch Long which is very fine one mountain is particularly striking called the Cobbler after dinner we continued our road & entered the pass of Glencrow which is indescribably wild magnificent after a ride of 3 miles we arrived at an eminence called Rest & be thankful; a stone is placed here with that inscription I having walked up to see part of the hill willingly did as it desired a little further on is Loch Rest a small though beautiful Lake; we arrived after being highly delighted with this sublime scenery Cairndow a tolerable comfortable Inn where we passed the night

OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:

River Leven flows the 6 miles from Loch Lomond to its confluence with the Clyde at Dumbarton Castle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Leven,_Dunbartonshire

Loch Lomond (The loch is actually 22 miles in contrast to Lucy’s 18). Its 30 or so islands did not impress Dr Samuel Johnson: But as it is, the islets, which court the gazer at a distance, disgust him at his approach, when he finds, instead of soft lawns and shady thickets, nothing more than uncultivated ruggedness. (S. Johnson & J. Boswell (ed. R. Black). To the Hebrides: "Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland" and "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides", p. 409. Published by Birlinn, 2007)

1795: To Arthur Champernonne, of Dartington, Devon, Esqr. this View of Lochlomond, is respectfully Inscribed by His Grace's most obedient Humble Servant Robt. Andw. Riddell . Artist Robert Andrew Riddell, Engraver Archibald Robertson, Publisher: Rob… — 1795: To Arthur Champernonne, of Dartington, Devon, Esqr. this View of Lochlomond, is respectfully Inscribed by His Grace's most obedient Humble Servant Robt. Andw. Riddell . Artist Robert Andrew Riddell, Engraver Archibald Robertson, Publisher: Robert and William Riddell http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/2725

English travel writer, H.V. Morton disagreed with Johnson: What a large part of Loch Lomond's beauty is due to its islands, those beautiful green tangled islands, that lie like jewels upon its surface. (Morton, H. V. In Scotland Again (1933), Methuen London – p145)

2006: Islands in Loch Lomond. Looking south west from Inchcailloch along the line of the Highland Boundary Fault to Torrinch, Creinch, Inchmurrin and Ben Bowie, by Donald Thomas. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyrig… — 2006: Islands in Loch Lomond. Looking south west from Inchcailloch along the line of the Highland Boundary Fault to Torrinch, Creinch, Inchmurrin and Ben Bowie, by Donald Thomas. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Donald Thomas and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lomond_islands.jpg

The traditional song, The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond, is thought to refer to the Jacobite Uprising of 1745. One interpretation is that the song is sung by the lover of a captured Jacobite rebel set to be executed in London following a show trial. The heads of the executed rebels were then set upon pikes and exhibited in all of the towns between London and Edinburgh in a procession along the "high road" (the most important road), while the relatives of the rebels walked back along the "low road" (the ordinary road travelled by peasants and commoners). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Lomond

While the song may well draw on actual 18th century Jacobite material, its publication in 1841 in its present form and its great subsequent popularity belong to a time when the Jacobite cause had long since ceased to be an actual political proposition and the House of Stuart itself had died out. In the 19th Century, Jacobite songs and stories had become a favorite Romantic theme, appealing to the descendants of the English as much as to those of the Scots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonnie_Banks_o%27_Loch_Lomond

Ben Lomond is the most popular and most southern Munro with several routes to the summit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Lomond

Luss is now a conservation village, suited to tourists, it hosts a bagpipe works & kilt maker. Its graveyard monuments may date from the 7th Century with many medieval surviving.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luss

Rob Roy’s Cave lies just North of Inversnaid on the banks of Loch Lomond. Legend has it Rob Roy used the cave as a hide-out at various times, during his cattle rustling years. Sir Walter Scott visited the cave in 1817 in research for his novel, Rob Roy and it was sketched by Turner. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-rob-roys-cave-loch-lomond-and-sketches-made-on-the-journey-to-islay-d26589

2003: Rob Roy's Cave, eastern shore of Loch Lomond by Ronnie Leask . This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Ronnie Leask and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sha… — 2003: Rob Roy's Cave, eastern shore of Loch Lomond by Ronnie Leask . This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Ronnie Leask and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rob_Roy%27s_Cave,_eastern_shore_of_Loch_Lomond_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1036838.jpg

It is easy to get near to the cave one mile N of Inversnaid along the path used by the West Highland Way. However, without the graffiti would be extremely difficult to find amongst the jumble of huge boulders. Entry requires a drop of 8 feet into a large roomy chamber but one must have a rope and strong friends outside to assist in exiting, otherwise one will be condemned to share the cave with the ghosts of Rob Roy and also Robert the Bruce who both found shelter here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversnaid

Tarbet stands on an isthmus where Loch Long and Loch Lomond come close and has a pier.

The area around Arrochar and Tarbet has become the scene of "squirrel wars". The red squirrel is resisting the offensive by the grey squirrel taking place across United Kingdom, since there is a type of woodland they find more favourable than most. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarbet,_Argyll

Arrochar: For over five centuries the feudal barony of Arrochar, was held by the chiefs of Clan MacFarlane and before them by their ancestors the Celtic barons of Arrochar. The settlement was a key target for Viking raiders who took their boats 2 miles overland to Tarbet to attack the unprotected inland settlements at Loch Lomond before their defeat in 1263 at the battle of Largs.

Loch Long from Arrochar. Cobler in the distance , drawn & engraved by W Banks http://www.rareoldprints.com/z/9390

2009: Arrochar village, with Ben Lomond behind, taken from the path to Ben Arthur by Black Kite at English Wikipedia, the copyright holder of this work, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://co… — 2009: Arrochar village, with Ben Lomond behind, taken from the path to Ben Arthur by Black Kite at English Wikipedia, the copyright holder of this work, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arrochar1.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrochar,_Argyll

Inn: Probably Arrochar Hotel, situated on the shores of Loch Long, a former coaching inn. http://www.visit-lochlomond.com/content/arrochar-hotel

Arrochar Hotel and Loch Long . © Copyright Nicholas Mutton and licensed for reuse under the (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons Licence. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/526423

It is likely that she sketched the Cobbler from here. The facing page records: The Cobbler Mountain taken from the Inn at Arachar, Dumbartonshire Aug 5th 1819 … Lucy probably wrote captions in ink some time after the event as she has dropped the “2” from the date, which was August 25th.

0805.1 Cobbler taken from the Inn at Arachar.jpg

Loch Long is a sea Loch that extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula and incorporates the entire western coastline of the Rosneath Peninsula. It measures approximately 20 miles (32 km) in length, with a width of between 1 and 2 miles (1.6 and 3.2 km). The loch also has an arm, Loch Goil, on its western side.

Loch Long . Artist J Ferguson, engraver J Gellatly, publisher J Menzies 61 Princes St Edinbr.http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/21764

2006: Looking across Loch Long to Ardentinny, from Ardpeaton. by William Craig. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by william craig and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Att… — 2006: Looking across Loch Long to Ardentinny, from Ardpeaton. by William Craig. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by william craig and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loch_Long_and_Ardentinny.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Long

The Cobbler: Although only a Corbett, it is "one of the most impressive summits in the Southern Highlands", and is also the most important site for rock climbing in the Southern Highlands.

Loch Lomond - Ben Arthur or the Cobler drawn & engraved by W Banks: http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/16923

Many maps include the name Ben Arthur (an anglicisation of the Gaelic), but the name The Cobbler is more widely used. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cobbler

Glen Croe: The old road through the glen is part of the military road that ran from Dumbarton to Inveraray, built in the 1740s. A stone inscribed Rest & Be Thankful was erected around 1749, after this section of road was completed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Croe

Rest and be thankful is a pass along the scenic road along the shores of Loch Fyne and is the highest point, only ten miles after Tarbet. With beautiful views of Glen Croe, you can clearly see the old valley road which was engineered by Major Caulfield during the subjection of Scotland following the Jacobite rebellion. The stone was erected to commemorate the completion of this military road in 1750.

https://www.scotlandinfo.eu/rest-and-be-thankful-on-the-a83/ and http://www.arrocharheritage.com/HistoryOfRABT.htm

Loch Restil is a freshwater loch that lies in the pass between Glen Croe and Glen Kinglas on the Cowal peninsula, Argyll and Bute, West of Scotland. One of the main roads to the west of Scotland coast, the A83, passes Loch Restil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Restil

2005: Loch Restil. Seen from the Lochgoilhead - Rest and Be Thankful road, the loch lies at the top of the Rest and Be Thankful pass, between Beinn Luibheinn and Beinn an Lochain. Author Richard Webb. This image was taken from the Geograph project c… — 2005: Loch Restil. Seen from the Lochgoilhead - Rest and Be Thankful road, the loch lies at the top of the Rest and Be Thankful pass, between Beinn Luibheinn and Beinn an Lochain. Author Richard Webb. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Richard Webb and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loch_Restil_-_geograph.org.uk_-_11726.jpg

Cairndow is a coastal hamlet near Ardkinglas House where, in the 1820s, feminist Caroline Sheridan Norton was raised. Its Woodland Gardens, dating back to the 18th century, are open all the year round with stunning views of Loch Fyne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairndow

Cairndow Inn claims to be one of the Highlands oldest Coaching Inns. 1793 provides the earliest record to be found of a Resident at the Inn, the tourist Robert Heron, who records in his diary: the eaft coaft of Loch Fyne extending from the north of Fouth is beautifully diverfified with gentlemens feats, and rifting woods, while the interior country rifes in all the rugged wildernefs of Alpine grandeur and abounds with ftupendous caverns’

Dorothy Wordsworth is more specific in her diary of 1803 we were... well recieved and sate down in a neat parlour with a good fire. Breakfasted before our departure and ate a herring fresh from the water, at our landlords earnest recommendation. Cairndow is a single house by the side of the loch, I believe, resorted to by gentlemen in the fishing season: It is a pleasant place for such a purpose....

When he set out for Rest and Be Thankful on 17th July 1818 John Keats was disappointed he had to travel further for breakfast, but he appears to have enjoyed the bathing in Loch Fyne: we were up at four this morning and have walked to breakfast fifteen miles through two tremendous glens; at the head of the first there is a place called Rest and be Thankful, which we took for an inn; it was nothing but a stone and we were cheated into five more miles to breakfast. I have just been bathing in Loch Fyne, a salt water lake opposite the window.

Dorothy Wordsworth’s record of her return in 1822 is a picture of contentment: we now sit in a quiet, cleanly bedroom...tea comfortly set out - civil attendants, and nothing wanting. In the kitchen there is a fine blazing coal fire..

and Queen Victoria was most certainly pleased to be there: .... changed horses at a small inn called Cairndow where the dear little Campbell children are staying, and who were at the windows-such lovely children! There were a few people collected, and the harness as well as the horses had to be changed, and a pair of leaders put on to pull us up the long steep ascent in Glenkinglas. https://www.cairndowinn.com/about

Can you help us?

Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.

New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?

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